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Nikephoritzes
Nikephoritzes ( el, Νικηφορίτζης) was an influential Byzantine eunuch official, who served as chief minister and virtual ruler of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078). His actual name was Nikephoros; he received the nickname "Nikephoritzes" ("little Nikephoros") as a result of his relative youth when he first entered service in the court..:Nikephoros 63. He became widely unpopular due to his harsh taxation and meddling with Constantinople's grain supply, as well as for his neglect of Asia Minor in the face of Turkish encroachment. This resentment led to the outbreak of two major rebellions in 1077, and the eventual abdication of Michael VII. Nikephoritzes himself was captured and tortured to death. Biography Nikephoritzes was born in the Bucellarian Theme and entered service in the imperial secretariat under Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (r. 1042–1055). Under Constantine X Doukas (r. 1059–1067), he was sent away ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael VII Doukas
Michael VII Doukas or Ducas ( gr, Μιχαήλ Δούκας), nicknamed Parapinakes ( gr, Παραπινάκης, lit. "minus a quarter", with reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on court officials, especially of his finance minister Nikephoritzes, who increased taxation and luxury spending while not properly financing their army (which later mutinied). Under his reign, Bari was lost and his empire faced open revolt in the Balkans. Along with the advancing Seljuk Turks in the eastern front, Michael also had to contend with his mercenaries openly going against the empire. Michael stepped down as emperor in 1078 where he later retired to a monastery. Life Michael VII was born 1050 in Constantinople, the eldest son of Constantine X Doukas and Eudokia Makrembolitissa. He was probably associated with the throne around the end of 1059 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eudokia Makrembolitissa
Eudokia Makrembolitissa ( el, Εὐδοκία Μακρεμβολίτισσα, Eudocia Macrembolitissa) was a Byzantine empress by her successive marriages to Constantine X Doukas and Romanos IV Diogenes. She acted as regent of her minor son, Michael VII in 1067, and resigned her regency by marriage to Romanos IV Diogenes. When he was deposed in 1071 she resumed the regency for her sons, but was soon forced to resign again. Because she essentially ruled in her own right during her sole regencies and retained the title of empress, several modern scholars consider Eudokia to have been empress regnant in 1067 and some also in 1071. Background and early life Eudokia Makrembolitissa was the daughter of John Makrembolites and a niece of Michael I Cerularius, the patriarch of Constantinople, whose sister had married Makrembolites. John, who belonged to the aristocracy of Constantinople, allied with Cerularius in 1040 to conspirate against Emperor Michael IV, but their plan was stopp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Doukas (Caesar)
John Doukas (or Ducas) ( el, , ''Iōannēs Doukas'') (died c. 1088) was the son of Andronikos Doukas, a Paphlagonian Greek nobleman who may have served as governor of the theme of Bulgaria (Moesia), and the younger brother of Emperor Constantine X Doukas. John Doukas was the paternal grandfather of Irene Doukaina, wife of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Career as Caesar John Doukas, who was given the court dignity of Caesar by his brother Constantine X, was one of the most influential members of the court aristocracy from the death of his brother into that of Alexios I Komnenos. His wealth derived of estates in Thrace and Bithynia, and he was a close friend of the historian Michael Psellos. Although he is usually documented by the sources as a member of the court, he had begun his career as a general. After serving as a counsellor and supporter of his brother, John came to the fore after his brother's death in 1067 as the natural protector of the rights of his nephew Michael VI ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logothetes Tou Dromou
The ( gr, λογοθέτης τοῦ δρόμου), in English usually rendered as Logothete of the Course/Drome/ or Postal Logothete, was the head of the department of the Public Post ( la, cursus publicus, gr, δημόσιος δρόμος, demosios dromos, or simply , ), and one of the most senior fiscal ministers (logothetes) of the Byzantine Empire. History and functions The office of the is explicitly attested for the first time in circa 762, but traces its origins to the officials supervising the Public Post in Late Antiquity. Until the late 4th century, the administration of the Roman Empire's Public Post was a responsibility of the praetorian prefectures. Due to the abuse of the Post and its privileges by the officials of the praetorian prefecture, in the late 4th century the oversight over the Post passed to the , while the day-to-day administration remained in the hands of the praetorian prefecture. As a result, an official known as the , the inspector of the Publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians prefer to differentiate the Byzantine Empire from Ancient Rome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Greece
Continental Greece ( el, Στερεά Ελλάδα, Stereá Elláda; formerly , ''Chérsos Ellás''), colloquially known as Roúmeli (Ρούμελη), is a traditional geographic region of Greece. In English, the area is usually called Central Greece, but the equivalent Greek term (Κεντρική Ελλάδα, ''Kentrikí Elláda'') is more rarely used. It includes the southern part of the Greek mainland (sans the Peloponnese), as well as the offshore island of Euboea. Since 1987, its territory has been divided among the administrative regions of Central Greece and Attica, and the regional unit (former prefecture) of Aetolia-Acarnania in the administrative region of Western Greece. Etymology The region has traditionally been known as ''Roúmeli'' (Ρούμελη), a name deriving from the Turkish word '' Rūm-eli'', meaning "the land of the Rūm he Romans, i.e. the Byzantine Greeks">Byzantine_Greeks.html" ;"title="he Romans, i.e. the Byzantine Greeks">he Romans, i.e. the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mixobarbaroi
''Mixobarbaroi'' ( el, μιξοβάρβαροι, la, semibarbari, "semi-/mixed/half barbarians") was an ethnographical term first used in Classical Greece by authors to denote people who lived in the frontiers of the ''oikoumene'', and had qualities of both the civilized peoples and the barbarians, as seen in the works of Euripides, Plato and Xenophon. It would later come to describe mixed Greeks or other people mixed with "barbarians" in the Greek lands of cultural plurality. In the Plato dialogue ''Menexenus'', a group of "barbarians" considered themselves Greeks, but were not full-blooded Greeks, thus only "''mixobarbaroi''". Xenophon describes the people of Cedreiae in Asia Minor, who were allies to Athens, as "''mixobarbaroi''", meaning those who were bound to treaties with Athens but were not Athenian. After the Christianization of the Byzantine Empire and the first Christian emperor Constantine I, the term is used to denote non-Romans of Christian faith living in the fron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paristrion
Paristrion ( el, Παρίστριον, lit=beside the Ister), or Paradounabon/Paradounabis (), which is preferred in official documents, was a Byzantine province covering the southern bank of the Lower Danube (Moesia Inferior) in the 11th and 12th centuries.. Although Byzantine authors use the term to describe the lands along the Danube in general, the province of Paristrion seems to have comprised mostly modern Dobruja. It is not certain exactly when the province was established: the Romanian scholar Nicolae Bănescu considered that it was established immediately after the end of the Rus'–Byzantine War of 970–971, while others, such as Vasil Zlatarski, thought it a later, mid-11th century creation. It was governed by a ''katepano'' or a '' doux'', and was probably based at Dorostolon (modern Silistra), where a Byzantine ''strategia'' ("generalcy") is indeed attested in the 970s.. In the aftermath of his victory over the Rus', Emperor John I Tzimiskes (r. 969–976) appointe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , passing through or bordering Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine before draining into the Black Sea. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries. The largest cities on the river are Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava, all of which are the capitals of their respective countries; the Danube passes through four capital cities, more than any other river in the world. Five more capital cities lie in the Danube's basin: Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo. The fourth-largest city in its basin is Munich, the capital of Bavaria, standing on the Isar River. The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through much of Central and Sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased death, mortality. Every inhabited continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. In the 19th and 20th century, generally characterized Southeast and South Asia, as well as Eastern and Central Europe, in terms of having suffered most number of deaths from famine. The numbers dying from famine began to fall sharply from the 2000s. Since 2010, Africa has been the most affected continent of famine in the world. Definitions According to the United Nations World Food Programme, famine is declared when malnutrition is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to suf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of inflation is deflation, a sustained decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index. As prices do not all increase at the same rate, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used for this purpose. The employment cost index is also used for wages in the United States. Most economists agree that high levels of inflation as well as hyperinflation—which have severely disruptive effects on the real economy—are caused by persistent excessive growth in the money supply. Views on low to moderate rates of inflation are more varied. Low or moderate inflation may be attri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Attaleiates
Michael Attaleiates or Attaliates ( grc-gre, Μιχαήλ Ἀτταλειάτης, Michaḗl Attaleiátēs, ; – 1080) was a Byzantine Greek chronicler, public servant and historian active in Constantinople and around the empire's provinces in the second half of the eleventh century. He was a younger contemporary (possibly even a student) of Michael Psellos and likely an older colleague of John Skylitzes, the two other Byzantine historians of the eleventh century whose work survives. Life and work Michael Attaleiates was probably a native of Attaleia (now Antalya, in Turkey) and moved to Constantinople some time between, approximately, 1030 and 1040 to pursue studies in law. During years of service in the empire's judicial system he built a small private fortune. Prominence on the judge's bench also brought him to the attention of a number of emperors who rewarded him with some of the highest honours available to civil servants (''patrikios'' and ''anthypatos''). In 1072, Attal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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